Griffin outduels Gainesville 126-123
April 22, 2006 - World Basketball Association (WBA)
Cartersville Warriors News Release
The Griffin Warriors opened the season with a wild 126-123 victory over the Gainesville Knights.
The Knights jumped out to an early 8-3 lead, but Griffin went on an 8-0 run to go up 11-8 at the 7:30 mark of the first quarter. Behind the inside scoring of Mack McGadney (6'7''-F-79, college: Auburn) the Knights went on its own 8-0 streak to reclaim the lead. The score was knotted at the end of the first period. In the second, Griffin opened the game up with its transition style of play, building a 12 point spread behind high-flying slams by Bobby Brown (6'7''-F-79, college: Kennesaw St.) and Terrence Hill (6'5''-G-82, college: Kennesaw St.). Gainesville battled back behind McGadney and Johnnie Parker (6'8''-F-78, agency: EM-PA, college: Missouri) 's long-range shooting, to trim the Warrior lead to 58-54 by the half.
Griffin came out strong in the third quarter, with quick transition buckets by Ray Luque (6'5''-G, college: Kennesaw St.) and Mike Dean (6'2''-G-82, college: Middle Tenn.St.), rebuilding its double digit lead. The Knights picked up its defensive pressure and went on a run that saw BJ Puckett drop a put-back in the lane to tie the game at the third quarter buzzer. The score stood at 84-84 to begin the final stanza. Dean drilled a three pointer, to trigger a 7-0 run for Griffin to open the fourth. But, again the Knights fought back with buckets by McGadney. All night the high-speed pace seemed to favor Griffin, but Gainesville began to match the up-tempo style by going small and built a 103-97 lead with about 8:20 remaining. Hill drained a trey and Darius Wade (6'2''-G, college: Morehouse) knocked down another to bring the Warriors back. Down the stretch the lead see-sawed back and fourth. Griffin was able to inch out to a 124-119 with just over a minute left. Gainesville scored consecutive buckets to cut the deficit to one with :34 seconds left. Wade was fouled with :13 seconds on the clock, making two freethrows to put the Warriors up by three. The Knights got off two attempts to tie in the waning seconds, but could not connect, allowing Griffin to escape with the win.
McGadney had 16 points to lead Gainesville, while Parker also downed 15. For Griffin, Mike Dean (6'2''-G-82, college: Middle Tenn.St.) poured in 31, while Bobby Brown (6'7''-F-79, college: Kennesaw St.) fought for 29 points and snatched nine rebounds and four steals. Also, Luque had 18 points two steals, Hill scored 15 points, pulled eight rebounds and swiped six steals. Also reaching double figures for Griffin was Darius Wade (6'2''-G, college: Morehouse) with 14 and Tony Scruggs (6'0''-G) with 10. Anthony Witherspoon (6'5''-F, college: Georgia St.) and Akeim Claborne rounded out the scoring with six and four points, respectively.
On Saturday night, Griffin (1-0) will enter hostile territory again, as they face off against the Rome Gladiators, the defending WBA Champs. The Knights (0-1) will host the Anderson Heat in Gainesville.
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